{"id":41174,"date":"2026-02-24T13:50:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=41174"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:20:21","slug":"furman-university-marching-band-invited-to-play-london-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-university-marching-band-invited-to-play-london-parade\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman University bands invited to play London Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Furman University\u2019s marching band will be ringing in the new year in London by performing for millions of viewers around the globe.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, organizers from London Parade<\/a> came to Furman\u2019s campus to formally invite the Paladin Regiment Marching Band<\/a> to perform in the 2027 parade, and for the symphonic band to play in London Parade’s festival concert series<\/a>. Members of the band performed in the Daniel Music Building for Bob Bone, founder and chairman of London Parade, who traveled from overseas to deliver the invitation in person.<\/p>\n

\"The

Furman Bands members played Tuesday evening, when they were invited to perform during the London Parade, a New Year\u2019s Day celebration watched by millions every year.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think any time we get to represent our university is meaningful and something we value,\u201d said Sue Samuels<\/a>, Furman\u2019s director of bands and music education coordinator.<\/p>\n

This year 8,700 people participated in the parade, representing 26 countries. More than 550,000 people attended the parade in person, and it reached about 380 million homes on television globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have created what we call the greatest event in the greatest city in the world,\u201d said Bob Bone, founder and chairman of London Parade. \u201cOn the relatively narrow streets of London, you\u2019ll see just how many people that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of New Year\u2019s Day, the band will be treated to tours of various historic and cultural sites throughout London. Many of the band members gathered on Tuesday had traveled to London previously. Caroline James \u201927 \u2013 a flute player from Greer, South Carolina \u2013 said she\u2019d never been to the English capital. She said being invited is such an honor, and she\u2019s most excited to visit the libraries at the University of Oxford.<\/p>\n

Furman University has longstanding connections with London and the British Isles dating back to the first in 1969. For the band, international travel poses a unique opportunity to connect with their fellow musicians and flex their leadership and collaboration skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cGroup travel is one of the most significant ways we can get to know each other as individuals,\u201d Samuels said. \u201cThey\u2019ll have these memories for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students will get a cultural tour of London and surrounding areas before performing for an audience of millions on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":41173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-study-away-and-international-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41174"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41186,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41174\/revisions\/41186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}